Chapter 10

Searching

That night after the sun set, Buffy and Spike headed out with no more information than they had a few hours ago. They had no idea where to look.

"Spike, about earlier when I said you were my friend, what I really meant was...I mean, I..." Buffy started.

Spike looked up suddenly.

"Watch out!" He jumped in front of Buffy to keep her from getting tackled by a vampire, who came out of nowhere. Spike and the vamp fell to the ground.

Buffy pulled the vampire off of Spike and threw it on the ground and pulled her stake out of her jacket.

"Slayer..." the vampire grinned, "I hear your sister was taken by those Klakarec demons."

"What do you know about that?" Buffy asked. Spike was standing behind her now.

"I know how to find them," the vampire responded.

"OK, talk." Buffy crossed her arms as the vamp got up.

"What do I get out of it, Slayer?"

"You don't get killed," Buffy responded.

"Good enough. OK, they've got her and the other girls tied up in a hidden chamber near the Bronze."

"How do we find this chamber?" Buffy asked.

"When you get to the Bronze there's a trapdoor under the doormat. Open it and you will find a tunnel. Follow it and you should find a big door and behind it is the chamber," he finished.

"Is that all?" Spike asked.

"Yeah," the vamp answered. "Good." Spike grabbed the stake out of Buffy's hand and put it through the vamp's heart. "Hey!" the vampire said before exploding into dust.

"Spike! Why did you do that?" Buffy asked.

"'Cause he's an evil vampire. Have we forgotten the drill, pet?"

"No, but I believe you have!" Spike looked at her, confused. "'Cause he gave us information and what if he was lying, Spike?'" Buffy mocked.

"Oh, uh...hadn't thought of that."

"Uh!" Buffy turned and started walking toward the Bronze. Spike caught up with her.

"I'm sorry, Buffy. I guess I didn't think--" Spike started, but Buffy cut him off.

"No, I guess you didn't on account that vampires don't have brains!"

"Well, we do have brains, they just don't work real well."

"Whatever," Buffy said.

"So, one minute you're kissing me and the next you're yelling at me. No, you're not complicated at all," Spike said sarcastically.

"Spike, do you take everything seriously? Just because I kissed you doesn't mean that I want a life-long relationship with you," Buffy said.

"Then what does it mean, Slayer?" Spike stopped walking and Buffy stopped and turned around a few feet in front of him with her arms folded. "Is it just a game?" 'Oh, I'm Buffy and I have a license to kiss whoever I want for no reason at all,'" Spike mocked badly.

"Spike." Buffy's face softened and she moved closer to him, unfolding her arms. "I'm sorry. I'm just not in a good mood. For all I know Dawn could be dead already. I don't mean to take it out on you. Now, we should really go see if we can find this so-called 'chamber'."

Buffy and Spike headed toward the Bronze again.

"Well, this is it," Buffy said, staring at the doormat. "Good thing the Bronze is closed tonight."

"Want to do the honors?" Spike pointed to the mat.

"Sure." Buffy crouched down and moved the mat.

Beneath the mat was what looked like a rectangle of concrete with a kind of door knocker in the middle of it. Buffy pulled up on the knocker and the concrete slab moved and fell with a 'crash' onto the ground, revealing a dark sewer beneath it.

"So...this is it?" Spike asked, looking down the hole, unimpressed.

"Guess so, and I guess they don't mind sewers after all." Buffy lowered herself through the hole and dropped down into the sewer with Spike following after her.

They followed the sewer until they came to a higher landing that was dry. After a couple of minutes, a wooden door loomed up before them.

"This must lead to the chamber," Spike said.

"I hope so." Buffy searched for a latch or something to open it.

After a minute she found a latch and pulled up on it and the door creaked open, revealing a candle-lit chamber with nothing in it except for 13 poles in the middle. The walls, floor, and ceiling were a tan-ish color and even more so in the candle light. There were no other doors or passages in the simple, square chamber.

"It's empty," Buffy said, disappointed.

"Well, they were here at one time. Those poles are for the 13 girls, I'm guessing," Spike pointed out.

"I guess that vampire wasn't lying. They just moved on," Buffy said, trying to conceal her grief. "Let's go." Buffy turned, went around Spike, and out the door. Spike followed her, closing the door to the chamber behind him.

END OF CHAPTER 10

Hey, hope you liked this chapter. Not totally exciting, but the next chapter's going to be great for all you Spuffy fans.And I'm almost done writing this story and there's going to be 15 chapters and an epilogue.